Benevolent giant?

Noteworthy: Boeing's CEO is an opera buff, which could help the Lyric Opera of Chicago tap the company's philanthropic resources, contends William Mason, Lyric's general director. Photo: Steve Leonard

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When leaders of the Library of International Relations at the Chicago-Kent College of Law were looking for a distinguished foreign service official to honor at this October's Consular Ball, Thomas R. Pickering was the perfect choice.

When leaders of the Library of International Relations at the Chicago-Kent College of Law were looking for a distinguished foreign service official to honor at this October's Consular Ball, Thomas R. Pickering was the perfect choice.

A former ambassador to the Russian Federation, India and Israel, Mr. Pickering capped his diplomatic career with a stint as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

But it was his post-foreign service career, as Boeing Co.'s senior vice-president of international relations, that clinched his selection for the honor at a gala that raises about $200,000 a year for the library.

The move is only one of dozens by local charities to woo the city's newest corporate giant, one with deep philanthropic pockets.

In the months since the company announced its intentions to relocate, the dance between Boeing and Chicago-area non-profits has intensified, with board members and development staffs working every back channel at their disposal to gain advantage.

Local cultural and social service organizations are drooling over the prospect of landing Boeing executives as board members, and otherwise ingratiating themselves with a company that last year gave $92 million to charities around the world. Of that, $44.3 million was provided in cash from the company, with the remainder coming from employees and in-kind gifts.

But local philanthropy experts and Boeing officials alike warn that those seeking largess may be setting expectations higher than the company can meet.

"The requests for assistance are clearly going to be more than we can handle," says John D. Warner, Boeing's senior vice-president and chief administration officer. "We will need to say no to some worthy organizations."

Adds James Alexander, a philanthropy consultant to local foundations and corporations, "The expectations of the non-profit community are so overblown, there is no way Boeing could measure up." Fund-raisers reeling from the loss of other corporate benefactors in recent years and squeezed by a worsening economy are putting too many eggs in the Boeing basket, he says.

Charitable numbers

$92 million

Amount of contributions Boeing made to charities around the world last year.

$44.3 million

Contributions made in cash from the company. The remainder came from employees and in-kind gifts.

30

Number of solicitations Boeing had received from Chicago-area non-profits by early June.Requests start piling up

Boeing had received more than 30 solicitations from Chicago-area non-profits by early June, even though the company had put out word that it will not consider such requests until it settles in next month.

Sifting through those requests will be the first job of Anne Roosevelt, who this month joined Boeing as the director of community and education relations. Ms. Roosevelt, whose local experience in the non-profit world includes stints as executive director of Museums in the Park and the Brain Research Foundation, will direct Boeing's local philanthropy.

And Toni Bailey, a Boeing vice-president who most recently served as president of the Boeing-McDonnell Foundation in St. Louis, will be relocating to Chicago to oversee corporatewide giving programs, which focus on education, health and human services, the arts and environmental causes.

While the company generally directs its giving to communities based on the number of Boeing employees in that city, it will be making a major exception in the case of its new headquarters. Specific giving levels have not been determined, but Mr. Warner says he is collecting data on charitable activity by other Chicago-based companies and by corporations around the country with similarly small staffs in their headquarters city.

"We rank among the highest in corporate philanthropy worldwide, and we plan to be among the leaders with our philanthropy in Chicago," Mr. Warner says.

Word that several Boeing executives, including Mr. Condit, are opera fans is encouraging to William Mason, general director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. So was the selection of Boeing's Wacker Drive headquarters, less than two blocks from the Lyric. But even without those advantages, Mr. Mason expects to be on Boeing's radar.

He says he is giving Boeing leaders time to orient themselves to a new city. But he has already invited several company executives to next month's opening night gala, and expects to join one or two for an opera early in the season where, along with his development director and some key board members, he will make the pitch for their participation on Lyric's board.

Ken DeWyn, director of institutional advancement at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, says several of his board members have offered to facilitate contact with Boeing officials.

"We have identified one senior executive with an interest in Shakespeare, and we have already made contact with that individual," he says.

For Mr. DeWyn's company, corporate contributions made up about one-third of the $3 million raised last year, and the goal for 2001 is $3.5 million.

Could competition get ugly?

Those companies that land Boeing executives for their boards will see benefits beyond the financial, says James Loder, managing director of A Contemporary Theater (ACT) in Seattle. Mr. Condit is the theater's current president and has been an active board member for more than 15 years.

"I only see him four or five times a year, but anytime I have a problem, he gets back to me within a half-hour," says Mr. Loder. Within hours of announcing the plan to move the corporate headquarters out of Seattle, Mr. Condit called Mr. Loder to assure him that support for ACT and other local organizations would continue.

That support amounted to $45,000 from Boeing last year, plus generous contributions from Mr. Condit and other Boeing executives. The company also gave the theater a three-year, $300,000 grant and a branding expert to facilitate the theater's move to a new space.

With such levels of giving at stake, some in the local non-profit world worry that the competition for Boeing executives could turn ugly. But Valerie Lies, executive director of the Donors Forum of Chicago, says concerns about back-biting among fund-raisers are overstated.

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"There really are only a limited number of institutions that will appeal to these executives as opportunities for board service, places where these individuals will see their peers," she says.

&Copy;2001 by Crain Communications Inc.

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